Cigar-tuck cutter.



G. W. BOWMAN.

CIGAR TUCK GUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. a, 1914.

AURNEYS Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

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GEORGE WASHINGTON BOWMAN, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

CIGAR-TUCK CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

Application filed January 3, 1914. Serial N o. 810,154.

To all eli/0m t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE WASHINGTON BowMaN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Cigar-Tuck Cutter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to cigar cutters or trimmers of that type disclosed in my Patent No. 1,083,052 dated December 30, 1913.

The general object of the present invention is to improve the construction of the retaining device and guard so as to be more flexible and engage the cigar when in position to be cut with just enough pressure as to hold it in cooperative relation with the cutters without danger of breaking the cigar and which will eifectually prevent the cigar being held by the operator while being cut.

A further object of the invention is to simplify and cheapen the cost of the manufacture of the movable knife.

With these objects in view, and others as will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of the invention, and wherein similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a side view of the apparatus, Fig. 2 is a front view, Fig. 3 is a top plan view, Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 55 of Fig. l, and Fig. 6 is a top plan view partly broken away and showing a slightly modified form of movable knife.

Referring to the drawing A is a support which is slightly inclined and provided with a base 1 for securing it to a table or the like. The support is provided with a longitudinal groove or seat 2 for a cigar and a. slot 3 in the bottom of the said groove or seat. A rest 4 for the head of a cigar is provided with a threaded shank 5 and a clamping nut 6. By loosening the nut the rest can be raised or lowered and then tightened in the desired position according to the length of the cigars to be cut. On the upper end of the support A is a stationary knife 7 which is adjustable so as to bring its cutting edge` 8 into proper relation with the cigar seat, according to the formation of the butt of the cigars to be trimmed, it being understood that the knife will be adjusted to one position for a blunt tip cigar and to a. diderent position for a pointed tip cigar. Pivotally mounted on the upper end of the frame is a. .movable knife 9 which has a cutting edge 10 cooperating with the cutting edge 8 of the stationary knife, and on this knife or cutter 9 is an integral handle 11 which the operator presses to cut the cigar. The knife is provided on its back or upper edge with an integral stop for a purpose as will hereinafter appear. This stop is preferably in the form of a shoulder 9at as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, but it may be in the form of a lug 9b projecting from the back of the knife as shown in Fig. 6. The knife 9 is retracted to open position by a spring 12 which is mounted on a. rod or support 13, the end 14 of the spring being fixed and the other end 15 being formed into an arm which is connected by a link 1G with the cutter 9.

Disposed adjacent the cutters is a platelike retainer 17 which is adapted to retain the cigar in engagement with the seat 2 while the tuck end of the cigar is being trimmed. This retaining device 17 is mounted to swing on a rod or pivot bar 18 which is fastened to the fixed cutter 7 and extends in parallel relation to the cigar seat 2 of the support. The plate 17 has eyes 19 through which the pivot bar 18 extends. Mounted between the eyes 19 is a spring 20 coiled on the pivot bar 18 with one end secured to a xed collar 21 and the other end of the spring being formed into an arm 22 which engages the plate 17, whereby the latter will normally be held over the cigar seat and can yield or remain stationary while in contact with the cigar. Secured on the pivot bar 18 of the plate 17 is an arm 23 having an angular end 24 extending' over the back of the knife 9 and adapted t-o be engaged by the stop 9a or 9b thereof. The arrangement of the stop 9a'or 9" and arm 23 is such that during the opening or retracting movement of the knife by its spring, the stop will engage the angular end 24 of the arm 23 and raise the plate 17 out of contact with the cigar, and during this raising of the device 17 the spring 20 is placed under tension, and as a result when the cutter 9 is again pressed the device 17 will move with the cutter by reason of the tension of the spring HO, until the cigar is engaged. The knife continues to move after the device 17 engages the cigar and the stop of the knife moves out of engagement with the arm 24. In other words, there is alost motion connection between the movable cutter 9 and cigar retaining device 17, so that the latter will have a shorter range of movement than the cutter.

In order to prevent the operator from holding the cigar while being cut and which might result in the cigar not resting with its head on the rest a and consequently in all of the cigar not being of the same length, I provide the retaining device with a guard 25. This guard is secured to the outer free end of the plate 17 and is of a length approximately equal to the length of the seat 2 for the cigar in the support A, so that when the retaining device is moved over the seat to hold the cigar therein, the guard will extend down along the side of the said seatto the rest il. It will thus be seen that it will be impossible for the operator to hold the cigar while being cut as the guard would come in contact with the fingers and cause the release of the cigar, should it be so held before the cutting takes place. Consequently the cigars will always rest with their heads on the rest t so as to insure all of them being of the same length.

The knife 9 is normally held in retracted position by its spring, and by the engagement of its stop with the arm 23 of the retaining device, the latter with the guard will be held thrown backward far enough to enable a cigar to be placed in the seat Q of the support. The cigar having been placed in the said seat, the operator then presses the handle 11 of the knife 9 and as the knife moves downward the retaining device 17 will be forced by its spring into engagement with the cigar to hold it in its seat, and at the same time the guard 25 will pass down along the side of the seat to the rest so that if the operator should happen to have hold of the cigar he will be forced to release it and allow it to drop upon the rest 11, when upon further downward movement of the said knife the cigar will be cut. After the cutting has been done the handle of the knife is released and it will be returned to retracted position and in doing so, its stop by contact with the arm 24k of the retaining device 17 will move the latter, and the guard back into position to permit another cigar to be placed in the seat, when the operation is repeated.

By the employment of the retaining device the cigar will be held in engagement with the support with sufficient pressure to hold it in the seat, but not to injure it, and by securing the guard to the retaining device and making it of a length approximately that of the seat for the cigars it will effectually prevent the cigar from being held by the operator, while being cut, as it moves over the cigar and extends down along one side of the same the whole length thereof.

By forming the stop integral with the movable knife the knife can be stamped from a sheet of steel, thereby simplifying and cheapening the manufacture of the same.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the principle of operation, together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A cigar tuck cutter, comprising a substantially vertical support having a longitudinally extending cigar seat, an adjustable rest on the support for the head of the cigar, a xed knife at the upper end of the support, a pivoted knife cooperating with the fixed knife and normally held retracted by a spring in open position, said knife having a stop on its back and provided with a handle for operating it, a pivoted and spring pressed cigar retaining device adjacent the knives, a guard secured to the edge of the retaining device and of a length approximately that of the cigar seat, and an arm on the pivot of the retaining device and having an angular end extending over the back of the pivoted knife to be engaged by the stop thereon to raise the retaining device when the knife is retracted to open position.

2. In a cigar tuck cutter, a substantially vertical support having a longitudinally extending cigar seat, an adjustable rest on the support for the cigar head, a knife at the upper end of the support, a pivoted knife cooperating with said first knife and having a handle and an integral stop on its back, a spring holding said pivoted knife elevated, a pivoted and spring pressed cigar retaining device, and an arm on the pivot of the retaining device and having an angular arm extending over the back of the pivoted knife to be engaged by the stop thereon when the latter is retracted to open position to raise and hold the retaining device elevated.

3. In a cigar tuck cutter, a substantially vertical support having a longitudinally extending seat, an adjustable rest on the support, a knife at the upper end of the support, L pivoted knife coperating With Said and means for holding the retaining device first knife, spring operating to elevate sei elevated by the pivoted knife. aivoted kni e, a ivoted and spring presse l iger retaining dgevice for holding a cigar GEORGE WASHINGTON BOWMAN' 5 in the seat while being cut, a guard at the Witnesses:

free edge of the retaining device and of a C. E. EHREHART, C. F. EHREHART.

length approximately that of the cigar seat,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

